Our Upper Rooms

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end…Next…he began to wash his disciples’ feet… ‘So if I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example…’” John 13:1, 5, 14-15

I recall when my 101-year-old grandmother was lying in the nursing home her last month of life. I went and visited her and while she laid asleep, a CNA came in to check on her. She told me that the day before she was in her room when Grandmother opened her eyes and began telling her about Jesus. The young woman said that Grandmother with her quiet whisper used her waning strength to reveal who God was. Who knows what was going on in that woman’s life, but God wasn’t finished with Grandmother’s ministry. With a surrendered life, Grandmother knew what it was like to live out the example of Jesus. Love to the end… serve to the end…teach to the end...living out her Upper Room.

Today is Maundy Thursday which is the day many Christians take part in recognizing the Last Supper. It was believed that the dinner was held the evening before Jesus was to be crucified. What we discover about Jesus in this beautiful scene is the pure essence of who He was, and the spiritual quality of how He lived His life. Jesus was fully aware that His time had come, and His life was getting ready to end. He had a clear understanding of the suffering He would experience. This was believed to be the last gathering of the disciples with Jesus alive. What we witness is what Jesus spent the remaining hours doing with the people who meant the most to Him. He loved them all the way to the end of His life…He served them up until the moment His freedom was taken…He taught them by sharing a final lesson with them. There were a million things Jesus could have done in those waning hours of His life…and yet He made it about others.

As He was showing love inside that room, the leaders outside those walls were showing hate. As He gathered items with His hands, others were gathering nails to place in them. He used the washing of feet for His final lesson as the soldiers used their anger to nail His feet to the cross. They were preparing the death of the One who would save their lives! What a beautiful Savior…what a loving God. What a difference it was between the Upper Room and the outside world.

Will we experience our own Upper Room today and share in the example of Christ? Will we love those around us apart from how we are treated? Will we serve those who don’t deserve our care? Will we teach and share with others what God has shared with us? Or will we experience life on the outside with the mockers…the haters…the self-focused?

Each day we are provided opportunities to love, serve and teach in the Upper Room. The Upper Room is the chamber of our hearts where Christ reigns and love flows. The Upper Room is where Jesus washes our feet, so we can wash each other’s feet.

May we each experience our own Upper Rooms with Jesus today and walk in the manner worthy of His sacrifice. He waits for us to meet Him at the table where His fullness meets our devotion.